


Getting Even

by someone_who_cannot_think_of_a_username



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 10:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16324592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/someone_who_cannot_think_of_a_username/pseuds/someone_who_cannot_think_of_a_username
Summary: A short original story. A couple goes on holiday. Original work.





	Getting Even

Words slowly started forming as Alex re-focused his attention on the woman behind the counter, ‘Julie’, her name badge read. 

“… and what will you be doing this Valentine? It’s not fair to only complain about my love life, right? Gotta even it up a bit.” The woman, Julie, giggled as if she had told a joke. 

“I’m going on vacation,” Alex watched as the woman, Julie, scanned the tag on the box of chocolates, “to Fiji.” 

“Oh, I assume with a lucky girl?”

“Yes, I- ah, we’re going for the weekend.”

“Well then, have fun” the woman, Julie, finished scanning his groceries, smiling like he was a friend. The conversation fell silent as Alex paid, then left, leaving the woman behind him.

The whole weekend was planned out. Alex had spent years perfecting it.

The pair had met ten years ago. The two individuals had attended the same high school. However, as people were forced to follow the consistent flow of time, the classes they had shared were left behind. The memories forgotten, or in Alex’s case, warped. Alex had bumped into Penelope at the airport. She had been on her way to Fiji…with her boyfriend. Alex had been surprised that she didn’t recognise him at first, but as he had elaborated on the many classes they had shared, he had seen the familiarity grow within her. Penelope had visibly relaxed, shifting her weight to one leg as she hefted her backpack up to her shoulder. Alex made a few jokes, they had exchanged numbers, promising to get back in touch. And they had. Friend requests were sent and accepted, Instagram accounts followed, and memes were shared. 

When Penelope got dumped, he was there. An old comfort. Eventually they grew closer, and now, three years later, they were off to Fiji. Again. How fitting.  
It was a half hour before the couple was due to check in, when Penelope announced her need to use the bathroom. As she walked towards the blue overhead sign, complete with a woman in a triangular dress, Karma seemed to strike. Alex looked up from retrieving a book from his carry-on bag, and saw Penelope conversing with a tall, blonde man. The same man who she had gone to Fiji with 3 years prior. Anyone else would have considered it a coincidence, but Alex didn’t believe in coincidences. 

He was watching, curious as to what the interaction would entail, when his girlfriend gestured towards him with a fond smile. This action caused the blonde man’s pale eyebrows to draw together. A frown disturbing his neat features. Alex waved cheerfully as the conversation seemed to pause, then proceeded to open his book to the marked page. 

Watching over the top of his novel, Alex observed the two figures. Penelope chatting happily, oblivious to the decreasing space between the blonde man’s brows. With a final laugh, Penelope rested her hand on his shoulder for a moment, then continued her journey towards the white triangle lady. Leaving the blonde behind her, she didn’t look back. 

The couple had been in Fiji a day and a half when she was found. Alex had been down at reception, inquiring about the seemingly broken phone in the honeymoon suite when it happened. 

The maid entered the room to change the sheets, during her statement to the police she had recalled being told to come in later, as the couple had wanted to sleep in. Alex knew he should feel bad for her, discovering someone in that state. But his mind had been elsewhere. 

The room showed signs of a struggle. A broken lamp, twisted sheets, and pillows lay abandoned on the floor. The phone, dropped mid call, had been left to dangle from its cord. Blood pooled on the bedspread, gradually soaking into the velvety fabric. A glance from a passer-by could had mislabeled the stain as a spilt bottle of wine, as was not uncommon in a honeymoon suite, had it not been for the high viscosity of the fluid, the metallic smell… or the mutilated body lying over the edge of the expensive piece of furniture. Multiple, deep puncture wounds decorated her chest. Blossoms of crimson flowered erratically on the plush beige carpet. A closer inspection of the body revealed a deep gash on the back of the woman’s neck, severing her carotid artery and vocal chords.

The neck would itself would have been enough to kill Penelope. So why mangle her body? Alex couldn’t think of a logical reason why anyone would have taken the extra risk. Unless… it wasn’t logical, Alex concluded.

Penelope hadn’t been dead long when she was discovered. 20 minutes maybe. Naturally, as the partner of the deceased, Alex was the first suspect. But with no motive and a solid alibi, he was excused to grieve. It didn’t take long for the police to look at the security camera footage. Unsurprisingly it showed the blonde man from the airport leaving the suite, clutching a bloodied Swiss Army knife.

Case open, case closed. Alex had arrived in Fiji with a partner of three years but had left by himself. Penelope had been in his life since high school. Someone he had known intermittently, and who had taken up his attention for 10 years. Gone. So, now what?

The plan had been simple. Find the girl, kill the girl. Alex had been planning her demise for years. Currently, looking at the empty seat next to him, he hadn’t anticipated the empty feeling in his chest. Until this moment, everything had gone smoothly. 

When Penelope hadn’t remembered him from school, Alec had been ropeable. How could you make someone’s life miserable for years, and then not remember them? A weekend in Fiji had been his excuse to finally get rid of her. It would have been such a pity when she “slipped” and fell off the hired yacht. A tragic accident. The fact that the blonde dude had showed up and offed her was even better. Right? 

Alex got what he had wanted. Penelope had gotten what she deserved, and there was no way Alex would be arrested for it, because he didn’t do it. She did deserve to die…didn’t she? She was a bully… 

Was a bully. Ten years ago. Ten years before he knew her favourite type of coffee, flat white, no sugar. Ten years before Alex knew about her ironic love of Sharknado. Before he had someone to come home to. Before he had someone who loved the foods he hated. Before he spent every night of the past three years protecting a woman who had needed protection from himself. 

Ten years before Alex realised it wasn’t Penelope who deserved it, but himself.


End file.
